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Symptohm : Melohman
by Ohm Force
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KVR Rank: 523 302 509 [30-Day: 264; 7-Day: 878; Yesterday: 1026]
23 members are watching Symptohm : Melohman for news
Product Symptohm : Melohman
Developer Ohm Force
Primary Type Synth (Hybrid)
Price (MSRP) €79
Plug-in Formats
Instrument(s)VSTAudio UnitRTAS
Operating System Availability
Operating
System
Latest
Version
Download Is it
Available?
Windows 1.22 Demo / TrialReleased
Mac OS XMac OS X Universal Binary 1.22 Demo / TrialReleased
Miscellaneous Information
Copy Protection Serial Number
Supported Sample Formats include AIFF, WAV
Average User Rating Average rating - 9.166
Known to work
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Symptohm : Melohman
  • Two unique sample based SyncGrain synthesis (Polyphonic or mono timbral, depending on preference). Create a morphing oscillator out of any sample, and even use multi samples to create drumkits!
  • Adaptable sub oscillator brightness based on SyncGrain spectral content, a stereo noise generator, a ring modulator per voice. Also features inter-voice ring modulation.
  • Dynamic routing of the signal into the Quad Frohmage filter bank (with loads of filter types, distortion, band delay and everything else you would expect).
  • Extensive modulation options (one LFO + one xADSR per parameter + MIDI) for almost every parameter.
  • Output signal limiter.
  • Approachable, straightforward user interface: large integrated file browser with easy file management facilities, a thousand parameters instantly accessible across just two panels, and the usual Ohm Force selection system, flying faders and velocity simulation on the graphic keyboard.
  • Over 30 Meta Patches included, each of them with its own complex MIDI behaviour, 12 patches to morph with and the designer's comments to help you learn how to use them to their full potential. First major Meta Patches release as a free bonus.
  • Useful presets instant variable transitions where all the parameters switch from the old value to the new one in a ballet you won't forget!
  • MIDI automation with Auto-Bind.
  • Fast configuration (Save MIDI configurations).
  • Tempo synchronization.
  • High quality DSP algorithm.
  • Sampling rate up to 384 kHz.
  • Revolutionary graphic user interface.
  • Move several buttons at once, with group selection and side-click.

RSS FeedAll KVR Audio news items relating to Symptohm : Melohman.

Ohm Forces announces Huge Price Reductions and releases the All Live Bundle 22nd October 2009
Ohm Force launches Ohm Studio Video Cohmpetition 28th April 2009
Ohm Force launches Quad Frohmage and Symptohm:Melohman Half Price Promotion 14th April 2009
All Ohm Force Plug-ins Updated 5th January 2009
Ohm Force launches 'How the Minimonsta Saved The World!' Cohmpetition 12th November 2008
Ohm Force Group Buy launched at ProTooler Blog 14th October 2008
Ohm Force exclusive KVR Summer Sale -- 30% Off All Products 26th August 2008
Ohm Force updates All Plug-ins and launches Video Tutorial Cohmpetition 10th June 2008
Ohm Force launches 24hrs 50% Reduction to celebrate Ohmicide as Best Seller 21st May 2008
Ohm Force updates all plug-ins for Mac OS X 12th December 2007
Ohm Force updates all Windows VST plug-ins (except Ohmicide) 25th October 2007
Ohm Force updates all plug-ins (Mac versions now available) 5th June 2007
Ohm Force updates all plug-ins 16th May 2007
Ohm Force updates All Plug-ins 15th March 2007
Ohm Force releases Universal Binaries of their plug-ins 8th June 2006
Ohm Force announces Mac Intel versions 22nd May 2006
Ohm Force launch Symptohm:Melohman Christmas Special (50% OFF) 19th December 2005
Ohm Force updates Symptohm:Melohman and Symptohm PE (AU) 21st June 2005
Ohm Force updates Symptohm:Melohman to v1.1.1 (OS X) 12th January 2005
Symptohm:Melohman Performer Edition released (+Funky Skin) 29th December 2004
Symptohm: Melohman updated to v1.0.7 4th October 2004
Ohm Force Bundles 3rd August 2004
Ohm Force Symptohm:Melohman released 18th December 2003

User Reviews by KVR Members for Symptohm : Melohman.

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By suthnear
On 22nd January 2005
Version: 1.1

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suthnear


5 of 5 people found
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Let me count the ways I love Symptohm:
(1) It takes a static picture of a sound and breathes life into it. You can twist and pull and wrench and turn that sound over and under, backwards and forwards. The results are full and rich *and* clear and penetrating, and, most of all, musical. It does bread and btter with the same ease as deep fried peyote muffins.
(2) It introduces both a new form of synthesis and the Melohman technology. So it's innovative, too, something that immediately differentiates it from 99% of the plug-ins out there. And these innovations aren't just of the madly experimental sort, but are highly useable. Melohman, particularly, is aimed at players, not just tweakers, although it's a tweaker's delight, too. There's no other synth out there that can do these things: reason enough to buy it.
(3) It has, in the funky skin, the nicest GUI I have ever seen. I love the fact that ohmforce covered it in strange drawings and weird victorian decoration. And more mad apes than you can shake a stick at.
(4)Artistic merits aside, it's a clear and logical design: the signal flow is mapped onto the GUI itself. Which is handy given all the routing configurations. And as already mentioned, those knobs just ooze quality.
(5) There's more modulations per square centimetre than any other synth I have ever used. Virtually every parameter can have it's own envelope and its own lfo. Adding modulations doesn't thin the sound out the way it does in so many plugins.
(6) The filters sound really, really good. The quadfromage concept fits perfectly here.
(7) Metapatches are also an excellent solution to a perennial problem: you create an excellent patch but you have to tweak it slightly for different tracks. So you end up saving the same named preset all over the place. Metapatches centralise this and allwo you to switch easily between variations.
(8) Ohmforce support is among the best in the business.

What don't I like, then? To be honest, not too much. The are elements on the GUI that could be easier to read (a few too many shades of grey in places) but once you know what they do it doesn't matter. The multiple levels of modulation and routing could be confusing for a newcomer, but then you don't have to use these features to their fullest: Symptohm functions very well as a rwo oscillator single filter synth. Mising features? I'd like to be able to modulate the modulators, and modulate the filters using the oscillators as well. The documentation is clear if a bit on the brief side. A tutorial would be helpful for the less experienced user, particularly regarding routing.

Reading over this review, it sounds more like a marketing release, but I am genuinely blown away. I don't work for ohmforce, nor do I have any affiliation with them. I just love their work. Symptohm has become my favourite synthesizer, hardware included, and the first thing I load when I start new projects.
 
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By pHz
On 10th October 2004
Version: 1-07

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pHz


5 of 5 people found
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GUI ... a bit awkward at first to be honest with the 3 page design (and its not the most compact interface youve ever seen either) - but each page is pretty logically laid out (if youre familliar with quad frohmage then the filter page is straightforward anyway) ... as ever the ohmforce virtual knobs are the best on any VSTi (with the way they lock the mouse cursor and their nice 'weighted' effect - as well as the intuitive fine control method too)

SOUND ... its quite possible that were you so inclined you could get pretty much any sound you wanted out of just this one synth - the sample based oscilators mean that you can use anything from single cycle simple waveforms (and use melohman like a 'normal' VA synth) to big complex sounds (that you can manipulate and mangle to do the 'one note track' type tricks) ... the quality of the sound is great too as you might expect from ohmforce - particularly when youve got the mighty quad frohmage filterbank as your synths filter stage ... as with all things ohmforce though you need to tread carefully with this beast - if youre not careful you might think its only capable of nasty noisy sounds which is DEFINITELY not the case

FEATURES ... on the surface it looks like a simple featureset (2 oscilators / noise generator / admittedly big filter section) but once you get into the modulation possibilities (per-parameter envelopes and LFOs and deep deep MIDI control) its obvious that melohman can play on the level of the more obviously complex monster synths (z3ta+ / rhino / albino / etc) ... the metapatch system is a unique feature and should be a BIG selling point for live players (and still quite fun for us tweakers actually)

DOCS ... comprehensive and fairly easy to understand (if youre into that RTFM stuff)

PRESETS ... again - on the surface you might think that the list of presets was a bit on the small side (although a lot more have been added to the latest version release) but once you remember that each preset contains 12 patches (thanks to the metapatch system) things start to look more healthy ... these range from eminently usable bread-and-butter sounds like basses and pianos (all with an ohmforce twist) through to more esoteric monstrous noises that possibly only the abstract among us will ever get serious use out of ... all this ignores the fact that melohman is (with the already mentioned modulation system) one of the best tweaking synths available - load up your own samples and start playing with stuff (not always conducive to making finished music but HUGE fun nonetheless)

SUPPORT ... never needed it for melohman but have heard nothing but good things about the ohmforce people in this respect - they have an active presence on the K-v-R forums and are always good-natured (if quirky) in their communications - they also issue the best newsletter of any VSTi developers i know

VFM ... for what it can do when you start to delve under the hood this thing gives VERY good bangs for the buck

STABILITY ... melohman has NEVER crashed or stuttered on any of the setups ive used it on (other than a wierd disappearing knob GUI issue when i installed it on my new laptop - but that stopped with closing and reloading the plugin) ... it can however (as mentioned above) be a little unpredictable (read as - potentially painful for ears) in terms of the sound it produces if you dont take the time to learn how it reacts to the tweaks you make
 
Last edited by pHz on 10th October 2004    Report

By bmanic
On 5th October 2004
Version: 1.07

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9 of 9 people found
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After about four hours of fiddling around with this beast I've come to the conclusion that Melohman: Symptohm is one of the finest synthesizers ever created in software. In fact, if it was a hardware unit I think it might sell big. What makes it so special?
The pure musicality, tweakability and playability makes it stand out from it's competition. The meta patch concept that allows you to morph patches smoothly, or instantly, from one another via the normal MIDI keys is just ingenious! One of those rare "how come nobody else thought about this?" things.
Another favourite feature of Symptohm is the super flexible per parameter midi scaling (yes PER PARAMTER!!), envelope and LFO. This makes the synth very intuitive to use and extremely flexible. The only shortcoming is that all those Enevlopes and LFO's for the parameters can't be modulated themselves in any way except automation maybe. This is not a big issue though as usually only fully modular designs or synths with complex modulation matrixes let you do this.
The two oscialltors are some kind of granular synthesis things that can take any sample and turn it into something completely different. It usually takes very little time to get some satisfying results from even simple short samples. You can even import your own samples while still keeping the preset settings on all the knobs and buttons so you don't need to start programming from scratch. I guess it's done to encourage the user to try out a lot of different samples for crazy sounds.
Symptohm is not just a "crazy swirling distorted multilayered pad" kind of synth, no, it's a highly playable subtle instrument with immense character. The way you can make nearly every knob respond to velocity, pitch (hi and lo key too), any midi CC, mod wheel etc. guarantees that it's always going to be a dream to play live. It can also make those same old boring wannabe 303 and phat trance sounds if you need to but hey, if that's all you need then, well, let's say that you're just a waste of the Melohman's time.
Deep, challenging but still intuitive programming possibilities. Rich sound and highly playable. Beautifully rendered GUI with the highest quality virtual knobs and buttons that you can find anywhere and for the money the Ohmies are asking, it's a bargain!

Note: I don't know about the Customer Support but my guess is that it's excellent considering the feedback from the Ohmies on this very forum.
 
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